Frantz Fanon, My Brother by Nethery Daniel;Fanon Joby;

Author:Nethery, Daniel;Fanon, Joby;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780739180495
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2014-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

15. Blida

In May 1954, I decided to attempt the preliminary entrance examinations for the Ecole Nationale d’Administration. The Ministry of Finance allowed me to take four months of leave on full pay. My wife and I, along with our two young children, lived in a studio apartment near Place Clichy in Paris, on the sixth floor of a building without a lift. The material conditions for study were detestable. The noise of my wife doing the housework and the racket of two boys enclosed in that restrained space were a problem.

Frantz, who had just taken up his position in Blida, invited me to join him. So there I was in at the airport in Algiers, baggage in hand. Frantz came to meet me with the pharmacist from the hospital, Monsieur Surdoire, who had a car, a small Panhard coupé. I sat in the back, folded in among my suitcases of clothes and books. Finally we arrived at Blida-Joinville Hospital and quickly unpacked. Monsieur Surdoire returned to his own villa and I settled in.

After dinner, Frantz took me by the arm. “Come on,” he said, “let’s walk around the garden while Josie finishes the washing up.” We stepped out into the night. He led me to a shed, opened the door, turned on the light and said, triumphantly: “What do think of that?” In the light shone a magnificent, brand new Simca Aronde, polished with care. What a dream!

I was of course surprised and poked fun at him. Why the whole performance? Why hadn’t he come to pick me up in his own car? He wanted to give a surprise, but also show me a sign of his improved fortunes. Of course, I congratulated him warmly. At the time it was a beautiful car with a price tag to match. He hurried to reassure me: “I still have a big debt to pay off.”

Once set up in the villa, I got to work. Frantz would come at night and we would work together on the political and social ideas of twentieth century authors and the classics of the preceding centuries. We read Bodin, Hobbes and the Leviathan, Machiavelli and Clausewitz. I was deeply impressed by Frantz’s knowledge of authors that I had come across in the Law and Political Science faculty and that were not covered in medical school.

Frantz always framed everything in concrete terms. His experiences as a soldier allowed him to better expose the difference between the concept of an action and of an attack and execution. Should the man who decides put his own life at risk in an attack? He who carries out the task shouldn’t have too clear an understanding of the situation and the risks. He should be somewhat absent-minded. And to govern is to make people believe.

His favorite author at this time was Descartes. He had read and thoroughly annotated his work. During a trip to Paris, we had gone to the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève opposite the Pantheon. He was looking for something, I no

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.